The attack was the seventh mass murder this year in the United States, after the March 16 shooting that left eight people dead at three massage companies in the Atlanta area, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.
This follows a lull in mass killings during the 2020 pandemic, which had the least number of attacks in more than a decade, according to the database, which tracks mass murders defined as four or more dead, not including the shooter.
The murdered police officer was identified as Eric Talley, 51, who has worked for the Boulder police since 2010, Herold said. He went to the store after a call about gunshots and someone carrying a rifle, she said.
“He was, by all accounts, one of the most prominent officers in the Boulder Police Department and his life was cut short very quickly,” said Dougherty of Talley.
The identities of the other nine victims were not released on Monday night, as police still notified their family members.
Matthew Kirsch, Colorado’s attorney general, has pledged that “the full weight of federal law enforcement” will support the investigation. He said investigators at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the crime scene, along with FBI agents.
The police escorted a shirtless man with blood running down his leg out of the store in handcuffs, but officials did not say whether he was the suspect. They said the suspect was receiving medical care and was the only injured person who did not die.
Authorities did not say whether the suspect is the person who was taken from the shooting site to Foothills Hospital in Boulder. The hospital will not release further information about the patient, said Rich Sheehan, a spokesman for Boulder Community Health, which operates the hospital.
Dean Schiller told the Associated Press that he had just left the supermarket when he heard gunfire and saw three people lying face down, two in the parking lot and one near the door. He said he “didn’t know if they were breathing”.
The video posted on YouTube showed one person on the floor inside the store and two more outside on the floor. What appears to be two shots is also heard at the beginning of the video.
Police and police vehicles crowded outside the store, including SWAT teams, and at least three helicopters landed on the roof. Some windows at the front of the store were broken.
At one point, authorities said in a loudspeaker that the building was surrounded and that “you need to surrender”.
Sarah Moonshadow told the Denver Post that two shots were fired shortly after she and her son, Nicolas Edwards, finished buying strawberries. She said she told her son to go down and then “we just run”.
As soon as they left, she said they saw a body in the parking lot. Edwards said the police sped into the parking lot and stopped beside the body.
“I knew we couldn’t do anything for the guy,” he said. “We had to go.”
James Bentz told the Post he was in the meat section when he heard what he thought was a misfire, then a series of crackles.
“I was then in front of a stampede,” he said.
Bentz said he jumped off a loading dock in the back to escape and that the younger ones were helping the older ones out of it.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis tweeted a statement that his “heart is breaking as we watch this unspeakable event unfold in our Boulder community.”
The police told people to take shelter amid an account of an “armed and dangerous individual” about 5 kilometers away from the supermarket, but said at a news conference later that there was no connection to the shooting.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted that President Joe Biden had been informed of the shooting.
In a statement, the King Soopers chain offered “thoughts, prayers and support to our associates, customers and the first respondents who courageously responded to this tragic situation. We will continue to cooperate with local authorities and our store will remain closed during the police investigation.”
Kevin Daly, owner of Under the Sun Eatery and Pizzeria Restaurant, about a block from the supermarket, said he was at his store when he saw police cars arriving and shoppers running from the supermarket. He said he took in several people to keep them warm, and others boarded a bus provided by the Boulder police and were taken away.
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Nieberg is a member of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit service program that puts journalists in local newsrooms to report on covert issues.